You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

A review by cozyescapism
Roseblood by A.G. Howard

2.0

Like many others, I was absolutely stoked for this book. Unfortunately, I found myself somewhat disappointed by A.G. Howard’s latest retelling, ROSEBLOOD. The Phantom of the Opera is a favorite story of mine but this version was filled with cliches. It had big plans plans but a not-so-great execution.

We are immediately introduced to the heroine, Rune, who is being sent off to a boarding school in France (which would be a dream for some of us) that has ties to the Gaston Leroux novel (which is already kind of meta) but of course doesn’t want to be there (which is a similar plot to many other YA books). We also learn she has a special power that makes her stand out and be disliked by the other characters e.g. the “mean girls.”

On the first day before she even gets out of the car on the way there, she sees a mysterious man that she is automatically intrigued by. Of course, this will be the love interest that the rest of the story pretty much revolves around and it can pretty much be defined as insta-love, but don’t worry – it’s justified because these two are soulmates that have been dreaming out each other for their entire lives.

From there, it just gets sort of … odd. The explanations for everything that is going on with Rune and behind the scenes with the other characters are fairly farfetched. At that point, getting through the rest of the book was a serious challenge, which is sad considering how much I adored the author’s other series SPLINTERED.